Mini Celebration

Well, hubby bought flowers, I had some pretend champagne ready and displayed the Penny books for the launch party of “Penny and the Creeping Weed.”

I didn’t want a fuss as I’m going to put them all together for Christmas but it was an excuse to start planning for our writing group to meet up again.

We may try to have a meeting in August but, if not, we should be up and running ( or scribbling) by September. I always think of September as the start of the year, anyway – having been a schoolteacher.

The little verse was in response to a challenge to find a word to rhyme with ‘world.’ There are quite a few. I understand ‘orange’ is the most difficult word to rhyme with.

I’m having trouble with twitter but it isn’t essential so if it continues I’ll just stop using it. Now to see if my photo will load!

No. it would not. I can’t get photos from my computer to show. I keep getting download problem messages. Yet if I keep trying they sometimes work. I’ll have another go- there. it worked!

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Sequel?

As Penny ends with a promise of further adventures I have begun to write the next book. It wasn’t until I had the vaccination that I could consider being creative but the ideas are now coming thick and fast.

I was going to call it ” Salted Caramel Fudge” but then I realised that if readers like the Penny character her name should be in the title. I need to check on amazon and google that nobody has thought of my title as I didn’t with ” Penny Down the Drain” and found a musician had used it. At least it wasn’t another book.

I have bought a new notebook as I always start my stories in longhand.I may not post so frequently from now on unless I get stuck.

E Book out.

Today the ebook of  “More Fish in the Sea” is finally available for kindle and I am searching my contacts list for people who might like to read it. It was really meant for women to read but I am quite happy for men to try it. They will find it is not quite like my previous books which had a more even balance of the sexes in the characters, so that the reader could know what both the women and the men were thinking, especially in        “Lane’s End” which was written from a male viewpoint and “Never Run Away” and         “Never Pretend” which showed sympathy for both sexes.

“More Fish” is a widow’s adventures as she meets a variety of very different men and has to decide what to do with her life now she has nobody to share it with. Dating in mid life must be so different from discovering one’s first love and even if it is not done on line there is no guarantee that the two people will be compatible.There are so many scare stories of romance scams, like the one I wrote about in “A Bend in the Lane” yet sometimes there are honest people brave enough to look for a soulmate, especially if they have no other family.

I suppose all my books are about love, in one form or another, although only “A Lesson for the Teacher”could be called a romance. Still, I’ve covered all age groups from 20 to 80 so the next book will probably a magical story for children. I’m not feeling inspired at present. Roll on 2021.

Waiting for the ebook

News yesterday about the ebook version of ” More Fish in the Sea.” It should be with us soon. I am probably going to keep it with amazon for a while. I have given up the idea of catching all the summer readers so I’ll do another launch at Christmas. I’m a real coward about trying new things so I tried to reduce the photo image on my phone. I’ll put the results below.

I’ll be turning my creative instincts to a memoir next. That should keep me busy for months. It’s very hot today and I don’t feel too bright.

new story

Now the novella is with a beta reader I am back with the story for children that I started. Having a break has made things much clearer but it is going to end soon and is much too short to be a novel. What do I do with a long short story? Could I make it part of a book of stories? That would keep me busy for a while.

Actually, the poetry anthologies did sell quite well but it might be expensive to have a book for children printed as it needs illustrations and although I know a brilliant artist I think that may put the price up. I need to check that out.

Struggling to keep up with goings on here at present and finding it hard to stay awake in the evenings. I hope it’s just to do with lack of daylight. Getting old is no fun.

tortoises

Forging ahead

To get you up to date with my writing – I have decided to try Print on Demand for the novella and have been jazzing it up and proof reading  before I give it to a colleague for a beta read. She’ll probably find some errors and inconsistencies and the I’ll have the fun task of writing a blurb and picking a cover.

The children’s book has taken a back seat at present although I do have a possible illustrator. One thing at a time!

Every time windows updates I have to rejoin twitter so I may not go back for a while. It was most useful for local news and views. I began to get bored with the political scrapping and the unnecessary swearing. Why can’t people express their outrage without the most common four letter words? I suppose that’s how they talk and we should encourage freedom of expression. Sticks and stones etc!

Proof reading again!

I just looked at my last post and realised I had used a comma instead of a full stop in my website. No wonder no-one ever looks at it. Anyway I have had a request for some sample chapters of my next book so I’ve plenty of work to do. Maybe the blood test I have just had will explain why I’m so sleepy these days. I also got some breathing exercises from the chemist. That should sort me out! Writing magazine came yesterday and I’m trying not to sit down and read it from cover to cover, especially as it also has a list of competitions. If you are a writer this is a wonderful resource.

Ready for off!

I have just completed the story I am intending to send off to a publisher, something I haven’t done for twelve years. They only want a synopsis and the first two chapters and I am ready to accept that changes may be desired, especially with the names of the characters but also, maybe, with the plot. I have backed it up so I don’t lose the original. It is a bit like sending your child off to university. You know they will change but you hope you have done enough for them to remain the people you have brought them up to be.

I didn’t realise I would be so nervous about the process but it is very different from sending a manuscript to a printer as a self publisher. Then we only get comments after the book has been published and often they are from people who have enjoyed the story, not someone who is looking to see if it could be popular. The only book I sent to a publisher got the response, ” This isn’t commercial.” but I believe, this time I might have written something with a wider appeal. We shall see. The best thing about it is that I am not dependent on it for an income so I have time on my side. I’m happy to take editorial advice on board, no matter if it takes weeks, or months, to come to an agreement.

If they don’t like it I am willing to make it my eighth novel.

Watch me!

It may be slow growth but I’m over 190 followers now and will be thrilled when I reach 200. Meanwhile I am going to revamp my website. I had two but one has gone so I’m putting all my efforts into promoting the new one. It might take some time but I’ll let you know when it is ready for viewing.

I am told I will have a story in Worthingflash in August. It’s a good job something is going out because the next novel looks as if it will take until Christmas. I’m half way through the first draft on the computer and have just written the possible ending in a notebook but until I know how many words I have written I can’t tell if it is the end.

Sea Scribes will be selling books at Salvington Windmill in September. Meanwhile I must get back to trying to set my poem to music. It’s just a pity I can’t sing in tune!

Doubting

Have you ever got to that stage when you are starting a new project but you aren’t sure if it is good enough to continue?

I have a couple of unfinished novels packed away somewhere but this is a different feeling. I think it needs to stew in my imagination for a while until I have enough to start writing. When your work is character driven, as mine is, you need to be really certain about your characters before you put them into a situation. Then they usually behave consistently and the story makes sense. I need to flesh out the personalities and backgrounds of the people in my next book before I concentrate on the plot.

Meanwhile we have a Craft Fair on Sunday where I am taking a few of my most popular novels, “Never Run Away” and “Never Pretend,” as well as the latest two, just in case there are some local readers who would be willing to purchase them. I think there will be a number of second hand books for sale so I don’t hold out much hope.

The more I read the less confidence I have in my own work. For one thing, most books I enjoy are twice as long as the ones I write. What is it, I wonder, that makes it possible to keep a plot going that long? If it is, as I suspect, a deeper understanding of what the characters are thinking and feeling, then I have to introduce that. If it is a broadening of the plot to include more related events, I need to try that. It gives me something to aim at and I’ll let you know if any of it works!